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Sunday, March 4, 2012

the hello yellow top

This yellow is brighter in person. It's like a sun beam. It's like corn on the cob. It's like a Wheat Thins box. It's like a Louisiana State University school color. These analogies make me both happy and annoyed. I really only bought this color because it was the sole apparel fabric (besides pink camo fleece or whatever) on the remnant shelf at the store, and I'm a sucker for cotton interlock knit so I couldn't resist. It's very possible this yellow looks awful against my skin tone. According to my mom I'm "autumn"-toned so I should probably be wearing more of a mustard color if I wear yellow at all. But sometimes a girl just wants to look like a miniature school bus, yaknow?

I only had .77 yards, but since it was 60 inches wide I could squeeze enough out of it to make a decent top with sleeves. (By decent I mean not scandalous; I don't necessarily mean decently constructed.) It's really short, though, and can barely be tucked into a skirt like this. I shouldn't have hemmed it at all because I was an irresponsible knit-stitcher and I didn't adjust the differential feed (or whatever) on my serger and now the hem is all stretched out and wavy. Who cares? Not me. Okay, well, I care a little bit. Okay, well, I audibly gag every time I look at the hem. How much gagging does it take before I decide I need to seam rip it all, though? Shall I set a hem-gag threshold for myself?

I used Vogue 8790 (beautifully illustrated above) as the base pattern. Obviously I didn't have enough fabric to use much of the original design with the uber-fancy faux wrap and waist gathers. It's my first Vogue pattern, and I only bought it because it was on sale for $3.99 -- normally it would be TWENTY-FIVE DOLLARS according to my receipt. C'mon, Vogue, take it down a notch.

Changes I made: - Eliminated the "wrap" and made seams down the center front and center back. I kept as much of the gathered back neck part as I could, because I liked the look of the draped neckline in front. Mine's a little more folded-looking than draped-looking, though.

- It looked boring and kinda sloppy with just the V-neck, so I created front ties from some remaining scraps. They're sewn together into the front center seam. Now I have a bow blouse. A bright yellow bow blouse. Is this even a blouse, or just a top? What's the difference?

- I made the sleeves as long as I could with what fabric I had. This is my preferred sleeve length anyway, since they cover my (ahem, untoned) upper arms but can still be worn in warmer weather.

I've presented myself (and you) with many questions in this post. Let me wrap up:1) How yellow is too yellow? Is it okay to walk around looking like a banana Laffy Taffy wrapper with a bow stuck on front?2) How ugly is too ugly for a shirt hem that won't be seen by anyone else but me?3) Why do Vogue patterns cost a million dollars?4) What's the difference between a top and a blouse? If it's just about buttons, then the Pendrell Blouse must be a misnomer. Maybe there is no difference, but the Butterick website separates them into two categories (see here). This issue is obviously well worth a deep analysis and possibly a heated debate.